President Barack Obama announces intent to nominate 2009-2010 ALA President Dr. Camila A. Alire to NCH

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Barack Obama has announced his intent to nominate American Library Association (ALA) 2009-2010 President Dr. Camila A. Alire to the National Council on the Humanities.

Dr. Alire is dean emerita at both the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University. She is also professor of practice in the Managerial Leadership Ph.D. program within Simmons.

President Obama also announced his intent to nominate Ramón Saldívar, Hoagland Family chair in the School of Humanities and Sciences and the Milligan Family fellow in Undergraduate Studies at Stanford University, to the National Council on the Humanities.

In a White House press release, the president stated, "I am confident that these outstanding individuals will greatly serve the American people in their new roles and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”

As a National Council on the Humanities Member, Alire would join the board of 26 distinguished private citizens appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate in advising the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

“We look forward to the Senate confirming Dr. Alire for this well-deserved nomination,” said Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association Washington Office.

From 2009 to 2010, she served as ALA President, launching the Family Literacy Focus, an initiative to encourage families in ethnically diverse communities to read and learn together.

She was also president of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and ALA’s affiliate REFORMA, The National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking.

The ALA Council Committee on Diversity, the Diversity Research Grants Advisory Committee and the ALA Office for Diversity recognized Dr. Alire with the 2011 Achievement in Library Diversity Research Honor for her contributions to the profession and her promotion of diversity within it.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Alire served as dean of the University of New Mexico’s libraries from 2002 to 2006 and as dean of Colorado State.

She has co-written a number of books, including "Academic Librarianship, Serving Latino Communities" and "Academic Librarians as Emotionally Intelligent Leaders."

She also served as chair of the Colorado Humanities Board of Directors from 1999 to 2000.

Dr. Alire received a B.A. from Adams State College, an M.L.S. from the University of Denver and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Northern Colorado.